Early in 1858, three men walked across the eastern half of Kansas Territory intent on starting a town. Although the volatile conflict between Free State and proslavery forces still simmered, the bloodshed had abated, and Free State factions had gained the upper hand. People turned their interests to more peaceful pursuits, including town building. Armed with a compass and stovepipe hat instead of a tripod, the three young Scotsmen selected and surveyed a town site along the Smoky Hill River, near the confluence of the Saline River in north-central Kansas. The tiny settlement soon became a way-stop for westbound travelers and a hub of activity for hunters, soldiers, land seekers, and surveyors. Now 150 years later, Salina (pronounced with a long i) still thrives as a center for commercial, cultural, civic, and social activity. Voted an All-America City in 1989, Salina is home to nearly 50,000 people who enjoy midwestern living in the heart of America.

Located 20 miles from the state capital of Jackson, Copiah County was organized after an agreement was reached with the Choctaw Indians in 1820. Named after a Native American word meaning "calling panther," Copiah County quickly became an agricultural and manufacturing hub. Once known as the "Tomato Capital of the World," the county was the location of the largest Chautauqua assemblies in the South, and the site of the founding of the Mississippi Parent Teacher Association. The former town of Brown's Wells once produced spring water that "healed" the rich and famous. Notable citizens from Copiah County include bluesman Robert Johnson; Maj. R. W. Millsaps, for whom Millsaps College was named; Burnita Shelton Matthews, the first female federal district court judge; Pat Harrison, a former representative and senator; Albert Gallatin Brown, a former governor; and Fannye Cook, an author and the first director of the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science.

A Spiritual Home explores congregational life inside British and American Reformed churches between 1830 and 1915. At a time when scholars have become interested in the day-to-day experience of local congregations, this book reaches back into the nineteenth century, a critically formative period in Anglo-American religious life, to examine the historical roots of congregational life.Taking the perspective of the laity, Cashdollar ranges widely from worship and music to fund-raising and administration, from pastoral care to social work, from prayer meetings to strawberry festivals, from the sanctuary to the kitchen. Firmly rooted in broader currents of gender, class, notions of middle-class respectability, increasing expectations for personal privacy, and patterns of professionalization, he finds that there was a gradual shift in emphasis during these years from piety to fellowship. Based on records, publications, and memorabilia from about 150 congregations representing eight denominations, A Spiritual Home gives us a comprehensive, composite portrait of religious life in Victorian Britain and America.